Jarid L Ott, 73, of Staunton, IL, passed away at his home on
Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 6:13 pm. He was in the company of his wife and
daughters. He was born August 20, 1941, in Litchfield, IL to Robert A
Ott & Nigel B (Coalson) Ott. He married Judith K (Paris) Ott on
September 2, 1961 at St. Michael's the Archangel Church in Staunton, IL.Mr. Ott worked as a Civil Engineer for the State of Illinois and
the engineering firm of Sverdrup and Parcel in St. Louis, MO for several
years. In 1975, he made a complete career change and worked for
Metropolitan Insurance for the next 31 years, retiring in 2006.At the time of his death, Jarid was the Corresponding Secretary
for the Macoupin County Genealogical Society and had previously been
involved with the ITS Trail Organization. Jarid enjoyed many hobbies,
among them traveling with Judy, spending time with his three
grandchildren, working in his yard and Cardinal Baseball.He is survived by his spouse of 53 years, Judith Kay (Paris) Ott
of Staunton, IL, daughters, Cynthia (Michael) Peters, Kimberly (Richard)
Garde, grandchildren, Victoria Peters (Matthew Valdez), Rachelle Garde
(Ross Bellm), & Zachary Garde. Jarid was preceded in death by his
parents.Friends may call on Thursday, April 9, 2015 at St Paul's United
Church of Christ, Staunton, IL from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm. Funeral
services are Friday, April 10, 2015 at 11:00 AM at St Paul's United
Church of Christ, Staunton, IL with Pastor Debbie J Atkins officiating.
Burial will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Livingston, IL. Memorials are
suggested to Siteman Cancer Center, Fight The Fight or Macoupin County
Genealogical Society.

Memories from Friends:

Cindy Leonard, writes,"I was thinking about some of the stories I could tell about
Jarid. He first made contact with us when we celebrated our 25th
anniversary. He soon after joined our group and spent probably the first
year of membership sitting back and observing our group. I would have
to go back in the Searchers to see just when he became our Corresponding
Secretary. He did so much more than that job description. Among the
things I think of is the time he decided it was time to hang all the
framed pictures in the genealogy room to give us more shelf space on top
of the cabinets. He was the “ramrod” of that project and he and
Chuck and our son-in-law Tim measured the walls and the size of each
picture we were going to put on the walls. In about a week, he came back
with a drawing of the walls and which picture went in what spot. And
that is what you see today. He created an Excel file of our
library collection and added new publications as they arrived. He and
several members had the discussion about newsletters being sent to
members electronically like other organizations have started to do. Of
course our group has several members who do not use computers and so we
still need to send out for awhile. I was just informed by the family of
our first president that she is no longer able to see to read the
quarterlies. I’m wondering if it is time to resurrect my off the wall
idea of putting them on voice recordings for that very reason. Oh well,
lots of memories of Jarid and his impact on our group. I told some
friends last nite that I may have to put an ad in the newspaper for a
new corresponding secretary……."

Dwayne Wrightsman shares:
Jarid received old photos and documents found in Washington State and
asked if anyone knew about the family involved. I emailed him and
told him that the photos and documents were those of the Gibson family,
especially those who went to Washington each year to harvest
apples. I advised him to see Velma [Gibson] Hamilton in Virden,
which he did, after he prepared a wonderful display of the photos and
returning all the items to Velma. At that time, Velma and her
husband Dave Hamilton were already in their late 90s (or early 100s),
but they were very happy to meet Jarid and to see the items that had
been lost for many years. A few years later both Velma and Dave
died, but I believe their daughter Phyllis might still live in
Virden. I have a copy of the photos that Jarid put together and
think (hope) I stored them in my computer. Would that be what you
are looking for? Click to read about Jarid's visit to the Hamilton residence.Jarid returns Gibson Family documents to the family.